False Virtue
by bonghitswithmileycyrus
Summary: After discovering her fiancé had been cheating on her, Sakura begins to act unlike her modest self in a desperate attempt to change her life and forget about him and eventually hooks up with a stranger. Now pregnant by a man she doesn't even know, she barely sees the surface of the trouble she's gotten herself into. GaaSaku AU.
1. Something Spontaneous

**Title** : False Virtue  
 **Genre** : Crime/Romance  
 **Pairing** : Gaara/Sakura  
 **Rating** : M (for swearing, sexual content, drug related content, etc)  
 **Disclaimer** : If I owned Naruto, do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction? Although, I like to imagine Kishimoto reads all of the fucked up shit his fans come up with.

 **A/N** : Hello everyone. So, to begin, this is a fanfic that I started a few years ago and discontinued around chapter 6. I don't know if any of my old readers are still around, but it would be so lovely to get some of you back. I am sorry that I discontinued this story, I had to spend some time adult-ing and eventually lost myself and all of my imagination. Don't grow up, it's a trap.

Any way, I have returned to rewrite this fanfic, this time with intentions of finally finishing it. If any of my old readers recognize this, many things won't be the same since it's been so long and I don't really remember anything but the basic plot, but I hope that you find it better than before. This is only an introduction for now, I plan to make other chapters much longer.

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 **Something Spontaneous**

Sakura pressed her back against the wall of her tiny bathroom and slid down until she was sitting on the floor with her knees against her chest. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, attempting to calm the nerves that had been clawing at her mind all day. She had desperately been fighting off all thoughts of _morning sickness, baby, pregnant_ , and _stranger_ , but the time had finally arrived to acknowledge the truth. Was she pregnant? By a man she had only met once, and so briefly? _Fucking idiot_ , she cursed herself.

She had purposely forced the day to linger, taking her sweet time up until about midnight, praying that every step she took would bring her back in time so she may relive the moment she made that stupid decision. This time, she would do it differently. But at the time, her future wasn't her main concern. Her body shuddered with pleasure at the thought of that day, but her conscious was screaming back at her with utter disappointment. How could she be so stupid? One time. That's all it takes. She knew better.

Just once, Sakura wanted to know what it felt like to do something spontaneous. Something in the heat of the moment. Something for the sake of 'just because she could.' Something to take her mind off of the other bullshit in her life. So, when those hypnotic jade eyes kept staring her down at the laundromat, she took the undeclared invitation and followed suit to the bathroom stall.

 _What a romantic interaction to share with this potential child_ , she thought sarcastically, _you were conceived in a public bathroom at a laundromat_. Sakura didn't ask for his number, or even his name. All she knew was that he was a handsome redheaded stranger with a striking gaze, and as far as she was concerned, he'd never be anything more than that.

She was furious with herself. There was no excuse for this, even though she could come up with hundreds before this was brought to her attention. Sakura had been acting outside of herself the last couple of months, ever since she found out about her high school sweetheart's dirty secret. Her life was ideal; engaged to the man she had been chasing since grade school, preparing to buy a house and move in with one another, start a family... Perfection. And then, he broke up with her out of no where. It wasn't until a week later she found out why, discovering that it didn't really come 'out of no where.' He had been hiding a secret lover from her for nearly an entire year. Ino, the girl she claimed was her best friend, admitted to Sakura that she had been seeing Sasuke, and that they had just made it official during a drunk heart-to-heart conversation they had when they were at a bar. Sakura couldn't even find words to insult Ino, she was so hurt. Instead, she immediately got up and left and hadn't seen her since. In fact, if she never saw her again, it would still be too soon.

Sakura spent the next few weeks extending her shifts at work, taking the long walk home, drinking herself to sleep; anything to keep her from being alone in her own mind. Thoughts of seeking new men hadn't even crossed her mind, not until she went to the laundromat around the corner from her apartment. At first, he gave her the creeps. She kept catching him staring at her every time she'd look in his direction. But she was just as guilty as he was; it was the eye contact giving her goosebumps. Sakura wasn't used to men who appealed to her sharing that mutual connection. She couldn't let it go. For the first time in what felt like forever, she forgot about her ex fiancé, her backstabbing friend, and all the pain her heart. The stranger's touch, which she swore still lingered on her skin, made her numb like the booze, minus the hangover. It was so pleasant to feel that way, even though it was only brief. It was oddly romantic, in the moment at least.

Time was up, yet she was still hesitating to find out. She forced herself on her feet and braced herself, reaching for the pregnancy test she had placed face down with the purpose of prolonging the results with one extra step.

Though she already knew in her heart what it was going to tell her, she still couldn't help but let the surprise show in her expression. Her wide, emerald eyes looked down upon two solid blue lines, indicating that she was indeed pregnant. A million and one thoughts came rushing into her mind like gushing waters from a typhoon, but she quickly bottled them up when she tossed the test into the garbage can.

"You're not allowed to cry," she told herself, "you did this to yourself..." Honestly at this point, the shock wouldn't even allow her to cry. The reality hadn't hit her just yet.

She made her way to her room and climbed into her bed, scowling and hugging her pillow with a death grip. She couldn't go another day without knowing the truth, but now she cursed her eagerness, for she had a long, sleepless night ahead of her full of knocking thoughts about 'what to do next.'


	2. Mending & Breaking

**Mending & Breaking**

The events that lead up to her newfound situation played over and over in Sakura's mind during the hours which she would have rather spent sleeping. She kept bouncing from denial, telling herself she would soon wake to find that the last couple of weeks were nothing more than a realistic nightmare. But the other part that was trying to prepare her for the reality kept insisting that just maybe- maybe this was a good thing. Perhaps the kind of change she was looking for? An enormous change, that would alter her entire life, potentially complicating it furthermore... Of course she wasn't ready for the adventure that was motherhood, but she wasn't sure if she even _liked_ children. Sakura enjoyed living her life with nothing more to worry about than providing for herself and whatever she wanted. Sure, having children with Sasuke was something she had assumed would happen, but not any time soon. _This_ was not part of her plan, and was causing quite the war inside of her already anxious, ticking-time bomb of a mind state.

22 with a crappy job at pharmacy, a mediocre apartment in the middle of a busy city, and no partner to help her; what could she possibly have to offer this baby? No matter which direction she tried to sway her mind, a million and one questions surfaced.

 _Abortion_. Her heart ached at the mere unspoken mention of the word. A sensitive topic for pretty much any woman. Sakura had never developed much of an opinion on the subject, but she never believed she'd be put in a position where she would ever consider doing such a thing; she was convinced Sasuke was the only man she'd ever become pregnant by, so getting an abortion would never even be a thought. Every day in the last couple of months, her morals were crumbling and she was saying and doing things she always would have preached against. Perhaps an abortion was just another addition to this new, immoral Sakura that seemed to be emerging.

 _Keep it_ , said the part of her that still cared about doing what she thought was right. She almost couldn't believe that she was even playing with the thought of an abortion; this was a _life_ , a little, tiny human life, starting out just like herself and everyone she's ever known and loved.

But, this life was going to flip her's upside down, and she wasn't ready for that.

Ultimately, Sakura wound up covering her face with her pillow and releasing a deep, frustrated groan, followed by a series of curse words and 'why me?'s'

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Sakura shot up suddenly; a loud ringing noise was echoing through her dream world. The sound of the doorbell came again, followed by, "Sakuuuraa!"

" _Naruto_..." Sakura grumbled and rubbed her tired eyes before climbing out of her bed. Naruto began banging on the door and ringing the bell at the same time.

"Sakura, I know you're in there!"

"I'm coming!" she shouted from the other side, violently swinging the door open.

Naruto stood in the threshold with a toothy grin on his face. "Wow, you look rough!" he said. Sakura's short pink hair was tangled and sticking out in different directions; her face pale with dark circles under her eyes from the near sleepless night before, standing there in nothing but a long white t-shirt that reached her thighs and a pair of light pink shorts. Naruto held up a brown paper bag in front of her face, "I brought you some breakfast!"

She caught a whiff of the greasy food inside the bag and had to hold her breath, afraid she might vomit, "I'm... not hungry. But thanks," she said.

"Well, do you mind if I come in and eat?" he asked, and then invited himself in before she could even answer. "You wouldn't answer any of my texts, so I figured I'd just show up!"

"I haven't really felt like seeing anybody, honestly..." Sakura explained. She took a seat across from Naruto at the kitchen table.

"Still upset about Sasuke, huh?" he asked. Sakura responded with a sigh. Naruto reached out and patted her hand gently before squeezing it, "hey, Sakura. You need to forget about him! You're the coolest girl I know, you deserve a real man who's going to respect you! You know, like me!"

"Shut up, Naruto..." she mumbled and rubbed her temples; she was already developing a headache. A common symptom that came with Naruto's presence. He was right, though. She needed to move on, and she did deserve better, but Sasuke wasn't her main concern considering her recent discovery. Naruto rustled through the bag of food and pulled out a greasy breakfast sandwich. When unwrapped it, the smell became stronger and immediately made Sakura sick. Her stomach heaved and she threw her hands over her mouth.

"Uh... are you okay, Sakura?" Naruto asked. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, desperately trying to fight off the urge to vomit. But it was useless. She jolted up and ran for the bathroom. "S-Sakura! What's wrong?!" His question was answered by the unpleasant retching sounds coming from the bathroom. He waited for the sounds to subside before checking on her. "Are you sick?"

"I guess..." she gasped and shakily climbed to her feet.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Sakura. If I had known, I wouldn't have bothered you. I was just worried about you because I haven't heard from you in weeks and-"

"It's okay, Naruto, I'm sorry," said Sakura, "I haven't quite... been myself, lately. I'm glad you stopped by." She attempted a faint smile. She felt bad for being irritated by him trying to surprise her; Naruto was probably the only real friend she had left, now. The only one who had never tried to hurt her, the only one who could keep her secrets, make her laugh when she was down, check on her after not hearing from her for weeks, and-

"What's that?"

"Huh? What's..." she followed Naruto's eyes and found them fixed on the empty pregnancy test box she left sitting upon the back of the toilet. She pursed her lips and hummed, trying to think of an explanation. "It- It's an old test, I just forgot to throw the box away," she stuttered and then laughed nervously. Naruto frowned and pointed to the evidence that was sitting on the very top of the little garbage can; the pregnancy test itself.

"I suppose you haven't changed this garbage can in a while, either?" he asked, not looking very convinced. "Sakura, are you... pregnant?"

Sakura's face turned bright red; she couldn't even bare to make eye contact with her blonde friend. Naruto put his hands on her shoulders and tilted his head, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Sakura, you can tell me," he said. She stuttered a bit before taking a deep breath.

"Naruto," she breathed. A wave of emotions came over her and her eyes began to water.

"Does Sasuke know?"

She shook her head in response.

"You need to tell him," insisted the blonde, "I know you two aren't on good terms right now, but this is important, Sakura. He deserves to know, and you can't do it alone!"

"N-no, Naruto, I can't," she said.

"Why not?" he asked, immediately feeling silly for asking. Sakura scoffed; Naruto was unaware of the truth, so she couldn't be upset with his ignorance. "Well then... I will help you! And then when you're ready to tell him, I'll be here for you no matter what he-"

"It's not Sasuke's," she said quickly, cutting him off.

"...Huh?" he looked confused. "How do you know?"

"Because, Naruto, Sasuke and I haven't been together for nearly two months now," she explained. Naruto looked even more confused.

"Well... it isn't _mine_ , right?" he looked slightly frightened.

Sakura groaned, "Idiot, you don't have any clue how babies work, do you?"

"Not really," he admitted, "I know that women have them, and that you need to have sex with a man..." his sentenced trailed off. "Bushy brows?!" he shouted suddenly, almost horrified.

"No!" she denied, nearly as horrified as Naruto.

"Then who? ...Shikamaru?" he took her increasing scowl as a 'no,' and then proceeded to keep guessing, "Kiba? Shino? Neji? Choji? Kakashi?"

"No, Naruto," she sighed, "and I highly doubt you'll be able to come up with a name..."

Naruto took a deep breath before blurting out a series of random names of nearly every male he could think of that they knew in Konoha City. He was beginning to turn blue in the face after a moment, not stopping to take another breath, clearly determined to find out who this man was. Sakura reached out and covered her friend's mouth to cease his guessing.

"Stop, Naruto!" she demanded, and then sighed frustratingly, "you won't be able to come up with a name because... _I_ don't even know his name."

Naruto raised a brow, looking more confused than he did earlier.

"I don't know who he was," she explained. "And I don't know what I'm going to do about this. But no matter what I decide... I'd appreciate if this just stayed between you and I, Naruto." Naruto gave her a nod and then gently removed her hands from his mouth.

"I'm here for you," he said, "and it's none of my business what you choose to do... but I think you should keep it."

"Why?" she asked, curious.

Naruto grinned proudly before saying, "Uncle Naruto has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I guess it does," Sakura agreed, "...but I haven't decided yet. Naruto... I'm not ready to have a child. Especially not with a stranger."

"I don't think anybody is ever really ready for change, Sakura. But sometimes, it's best to embrace it for what it is."

She blinked, wondering when her dimwitted friend transformed into a man bearing wise words.

"I'll be there for you, Sakura!"

And for the first time in what was practically forever for the typically cheery pinkette, she smiled for real. She wasn't alone.

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~Flashback: a few weeks ago~

"Gaara!" his sister called from the kitchen. A rather drowsy looking redhead came out of the living room and leaned against the large, round wooden archway that connected the rooms. "Gaara, come look at these!" He walked over to her and leaned on opposite side of the stone top table. Temari handed him the book she had; a photo album, opened to a page of the sibling's baby pictures. "I found this when I was cleaning out the attic earlier. Look at this one!" She turned the page to a large picture of baby Gaara, smiling and proudly showing off his rosey baby buns. Embarrassed, he slammed the album shut and frowned at his sister. "Gaara. I'm so excited you decided to come stay with us! I know it must've been difficult leaving your girlfriend in Suna, but this place has so much opportunity for you. And, you can help Kankuro and I with the family business."

"Isn't that why I moved here?" said Gaara, slight attitude present in his tone.

"Don't be so sour, Gaara," Temari teased, "you'll make enough money in just one month to buy and furnish your own place, and then Matsuri can come live here with you."

Gaara gave a nod and looked as if he were pondering the thought, but truth be told, he moved to Konoha not only to take part in the family business, but to get a vacation away from his possessive girlfriend. He wasn't exactly thrilled about moving in with his siblings at first; Temari could be like an overbearing mother at times, but she loved him. Her and their brother Kankuro were willing to help Gaara get back on his feet and start fresh. Exactly what the troubled redhead needed.

"Here, come check this out," Temari said and pointed to a large cardboard box next to her feet. He shifted through it and found some old clothes from when he was a teenager. Some appeared like they may still fit. "Take what you want out of here, I want to get rid of everything we don't need any more. As soon as we get that attic cleaned out, we can set your room up in there."

The clothes he picked out were all dusty from being in the attic for so long. "Where is your washer?" he asked.

"We don't have one," said Temari, "but there's a cheep laundromat a couple blocks down the road."

Gaara folded up the clothes and stuffed them into an empty grocery bag, then headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"The laundromat,"

"You haven't even been here for more than three hours, why don't you wait for Kankuro to get home so he can show you around?"

"That's okay... I'm sure I'm capable of showing myself around," and with that, he left. Temari frowned; her brother was still just as antisocial as she remembered.

Gaara wandered around for a bit, observing the large, busy city around him with caution. This was the first time in his life he had the pleasure of experiencing such an enormous city; except, pleasure wasn't quite the word he'd use to describe the bustling city, full of overlapping conversation and all sorts of different people going about their busy days, but, an experience nontheless. Right away, he could see the large diversity in culture the city had to offer; he could see why his father wanted to branch their business out here.

After a half hour of wandering, he finally came across a laundromat. Probably not the one his sister had mentioned, since he walked so far from the house. He entered it and threw his clothes in the first washer he spotted, then purchased the soaps he needed from a dispenser. When he closed the top of the washer, he couldn't help but let something bright and pink catch his eye; a young, cute stranger with a sweet scent was throwing her clothes in the washer next to him.

She noticed him staring and they made eye contact. Sakura smiled at first, until Gaara didn't offer so much as a 'hi." He just... stared. Sakura felt slightly creeped out and silently cursed to herself, something about 'fucking weirdos always come to this laundromat.'

As the time passed, they were eventually the only two left. It was getting late, and the laundromat would soon be closing. The two of them were hesitating, it seemed. Sakura kept catching quick glances from Gaara, but felt less creeped out every time. She had to admit, he was kind of cute, and in a very strange way, he was giving her some sort of attention she was craving now that Sasuke was gone. He was speaking to her with striking jade eyes, and was silently responding in agreement. Silently, he was offering her an opportunity with a different man; and she didn't want to ignore it.

Not once did she think to ask his name, or even where he was from. As for Gaara, the same. Their intentions with one another became clear as soon as they were within arms reach of one another. The tension was so thick that they could practically feel it burst when they kissed one another. Without any knowledge of the other what so ever, they seemed to kiss each other passionately, as if they were long lost lovers coming together for the first time in years. But in reality, one was trying to forget about her broken heart, and the other just wanted to break one. For the time being, they were numb; if only they knew now what fate would have in store for them a few weeks down the road.

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 **A/N** : I just want to thank my lovely reviewers, I appreciate all comments, positive or constructive criticism! The GaaSaku scene in this was rather limited due to the Flashback scene, there's more to come with more vibrant detail, I promise ;) later, we'll find out more about Sakura's decision and the Sabaku family business. Until next time~


	3. Temari's Flowers

**Temari's Flowers**

Finally rising during a questionable time in the afternoon, Gaara lazily dragged himself into the bathroom to get ready for the day. The long, break-less hours he was putting into the family business were already wearing on him, though he ever slept much regardless. He splashed cold water on his face to wake himself promptly, threw a black t-shirt on and headed downstairs. Thankfully, he didn't have to travel far to work, since his siblings owned the apartment directly above their shop.

Temari and Kankuro purchased building which Temari insisted sold flowers, other plants and gardening material in the center of Konoha. Though they did have to keep up with quite a number of different plants that required attention unique from one another, the shop was merely a front; a distraction, from the _real_ family business.

Below the floorboards of the flower shop was another garden of sorts. Here, they would grow a special type of plant, which alone annually produced millions of dollars for the Sabaku family, marijuana. Illegal through the whole country, Konoha was a city particularly known for having a strict, anti-drug leader and police force. The jail time wasn't worth the risk and because of this, very few pepole were willing take it. The ones who did weren't as successful as this little family from Suna. Eventually, when business started booming, someone would get caught and rat, taking the operation out. The siblings played it safe and kept to themselves for the most part, distributing their product strictly through a gang their late grandparents had made ties with decades ago; the Akatsuki. These days, the gang was branching out and spreading their influence all over a few different countries, and the Sabakus were silently creeping in their shadow.

To the public, they were merely a small immigrant family who moved to Konoha to carry out their dream of growing beautiful flowers, since Suna didn't have much of a crop-friendly environment to offer. With all sorts of plants from all around the world and a cutesy, welcoming design to the store, they were actually the most popular flower shop in Konoha, especially around holidays like Valentine's day. The storefront window was outlined in pink neon, with basic little neon flowers along the boarder and a painted wooden sign at the top that read "Temari's Flowers," decorated with little cartoon hearts and more flowers. Kankuro was opposed to having his name on the sign, and the entire idea of a flower shop because it was too 'girly,' but he had to admit, it seemed too legit to question. Plus, the scent of the flowers helped to cover up the very illegal scent rising from the basement.

"I was afraid you were never going to wake up," his sister teased as Gaara came through the front door. She was sitting behind the large wooden desk, eyes fixed intently on the computer screen in front of her.

"We saw the sun," Gaara explained, rubbing tired eyes. With more plants than they could count any more and too much risk, they didn't have a crew to help tend to them, so it was only the three siblings. It wasn't even time to harvest the plants and Gaara already found the work to be extremely tedious.

"Kankuro is downstairs," said Temari.

Gaara entered the office behind his sister and closed the door behind him. He felt along the wall until he felt the false door, gently pushing and popping it open. Behind the hidden door was the staircase; this was a feature the sand siblings had installed themselves, along with an expanded basement. Below, he met his brother who was in the center of the enormous green garden, kneeling with a magnifying glass and inspecting particular plants closely.

"By next month we should be able to harvest," said Kankuro.

"...Good morning to you, too," said Gaara.

Kankuro snickered at his brothers response, "Don't fret Gaara, just wait until the money starts rolling in and you'll see why this is worth it."

Being the more spoiled one out of the three siblings, physical labor, let alone working for anything he had, wasn't really something Gaara was used to. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was oddly enjoying working along side his brother. Gaara wasn't very social and didn't have anybody to talk to after his siblings moved to Konoha, besides his possessive girlfriend, who he had nothing in common with. Needless to say, he almost missed his siblings.

"So, have you figured things out with Matsuri?" Kankuro asked.

"Hm?"

"She called Temari the other day when you didn't answer your phone and mentioned something about moving here with you," he said, "not that we don't like her or anything... but she can't stay here. Did you tell her she needs to wait for you to get your own place?"

One of the reasons why their operation had been so successful for so long was because the family did not allow outsiders in; with the exception of the Akatsuki. Matsuri was not only an outsider, but the sand siblings didn't trust her; perhaps Gaara more so than Temari and Kankuro.

"No... but I will," he said in a bothered tone.

They were quiet for a moment, poking though the plants and checking the quality of the buds before Kankuro spoken again; "Why don't you just break up with her?" he asked. Even after being apart from his little brother for a couple years, he could still tell what he was thinking from his body language and limited responses, with help from the tone of his voice.

Gaara shrugged in response; honestly, he wasn't sure. They had been off and on since middle school and at this point, he had just grown accustomed to having her around. He tried to break off the relationship several times, but Matsuri wasn't very mentally stable and would make threats against herself every time he tried to stay away. Gaara didn't know if there was any part of him left that still loved her or if he just feared he may get blamed if she were to do anything crazy.

"Don't worry little brother," said Kankuro, "there are plenty of fish in the sea... but most of them are bitches."

"That's comforting," said Gaara, sarcastically.

They spent some time circling the room and checking all of their plants, removing dead leaves and insects that had found their way inside. Their sister came downstairs about an hour later with a large bouquet of wild looking flowes, orange, yellows, and pinks tied together with a thick white lace.

"Who are the flowers for?" asked Kankuro.

"Gaara," said Temari, shoving the bouquet into the redhead's hands. He made a confused, displeased face.

"Why?"

"You're going on a delivery," she said, handing him a card, "this is the address."

"...Why?" he asked again.

"Because you need to get out more,"

"But... I haven't seen Kankuro go on any flower deliveries,"

"And you never will," Kankuro chuckled.

"We all take turns doing the work around here, Gaara," Temari insisted, "and Kankuro will be making his own delivery very soon here. Every last pound, on his _own_." She was referring to the weed after they harvested it. Kankuro frowned. "Now, get going Gaara. I'm going to start dinner soon." She ushered her brother up the stairs.

Gaara sighed, irritated, and viewed the address. At least he was getting paid for this.

He stepped outside and looked up at the already setting sun casting silhouettes of buildings across the city; he could've sworn he had just gotten out of bed barely an hour ago. Just as he began his walk, his phone started to vibrate. _Matsuri_... she had been calling him nearly everyday since he moved here and not once did he answer or return one of her calls _. Take a hint..._

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Sakura threw herself onto her bed. With her face buried in her pillow, she screamed as loud as she could, releasing all of the day's frustration. This was almost becoming a routine.

Today, she had an appointment for an abortion. She arrived at the office where she found herself twirling her hair nervously in the waiting room, fidgeting in her seat, unable to hold still or keep her attention away from the other women around her. Some of them had brought their babies in for a normal check up appointment; others... looked as if they were there for the same reason. She could see the fear in one girl's eyes in particular. A crying mess, belly already beginning to show. Every last sound in the waiting room was getting under the pinkette's skin, driving her mad. From the ticking of the clock, to the scratching sound of pen against paper as the nurse behind the desk made notes, to the weeping, hungry newborn an obvious first time mother was desperately trying to hush.

By the time Sakura's name had been called to see the doctor, she had left. She couldn't go through with it, and now here she was, unable to fight back the tears and crying into her pillow. She didn't know what the right choice was, but getting an abortion couldn't be it if it made her feel this guilty. Even if she hadn't gone alone and had support from a friend, she probably still would have left.

She lifted her head at the sound of the doorbell. A soft knock followed.

"Who could that be..." she said quietly, drying her face as she got up. The knocking came again, "I'm coming!" she called out, her voice trembling slightly from crying. She stopped at the mirror in the hallway outside of her bedroom to fix her tangled hair; evidence of crying was plain in her eyes. She sniffled and wiped her eyes again, then headed for the door. "Hello?"

Somebody stood there with a large, bushy bouquet of flowers in front of their face and a man's voice calmly said, "I have a delivery from a... Naruto Uzumaki and Ms. Hinata Hyuga," he said, struggling to read the names correctly, "for a... Sakura Haruno?"

"Oh!" Sakura reached for the flowers and read the card attached to one of the stems. ' _Everything will be okay!_ ' it read, signed by Naruto and Hinata. She smiled; _how thoughtful_... She looked up at the man who delivered the gift and stopped before she could thank him properly, "Thank y..ou...?" Her eyes became wide and she dropped the bouquet on the floor; it was him. The redheaded stranger from the laundromat, looking back and just as surprised as she was.

"Uh... hi," he said, simply.

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 **Make the next one longer pleaseeee**  
I didn't make this one longer because I'm afraid of spewing too many details at one time. I don't want to confuse my readers, or myself! Maybe I'm just being too critical of myself, but the next one will be longer just for you~

 **PLEASE tell me you're not planning on any gaamat!**  
I think by reading this, you may be able to sense how I feel about that pairing myself!


	4. The Red Moon

**A/N** : Another thank you to my amazing reviewers as well as everybody who has followed or faved this story so far, you are encouraging, my inspiration, I love you ( : I hope I can keep you intrigued~ I will always respond to any questions you have. If you need a fast answer and don't want to wait for the next update, send me a message. Just don't request any spoilers! Happy reading.

* * *

 **The Red Moon**

She must've stared into those sharp, jade eyes for a full thirty seconds; nearly a lifetime in her mind, as she stuttered, suddenly hypnotized and forgot what language she even spoke. She managed gibberish until finally a quiet, "H-hey...hi. Hello..."

"...Hey,"

"Uh... I'm... I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting..." Sakura's face turned bright red, "expecting to see you again."

Gaara scratched the back of his head, his expression remained tranquil, "Um... Sorry... I never called."

"I don't believe I ever gave you my number..."

"Oh. Right..." Gaara sighed and looked around, sensing the awkward tension between them, "so... Sakura, huh?"

"Hm?" she hummed, confused. _Right- we never even told each other our names..._ "Oh, yeah, my name is Sakura."

"That's a uh... nice name," said Gaara.

"T-thank you," she stuttered again, face becoming even more red. She broke eye contact and looked down at the floor where the flowers lay. She knelt down to pick them up and continued to speak, "I never did catch your name... huh?" When she stood back up, he was gone. She hung her head and cursed herself, _You just had to embarrass yourself, didn't you?!_ The flustered pinkette whirled around and went back inside, slamming the door behind her. "Shit! Shit! _Fuck_!" She threw the flowers down on the kitchen table and sat down in the chair, crossing her arms and scowling.

 _You're probably never going to see him again, and you didn't even tell him!_

She was so angry at herself that she felt like crying, but she had cried herself dry. The negative thoughts about this unwanted pregnancy came rushing back, clouding her judgment all over again. Perhaps an abortion was the choice she should have made. This baby was going to have a rough life; a single mother who was probably going to be labeled a whore for the rest of her life, a father who whose name they wouldn't even know, let alone meet, and they'd probably grow up to be socially awkward and-

Sakura spotted another card attached to one of the stems on the bouquet, right below the card that was signed by Naruto and Hinata. She snapped the string that it was connected to and held it up to read it: _Temari's Flowers..._

He had delivered these flowers for her from her friends, and it must've been from this shop. _Maybe he works there?_ she thought. _What an odd job, delivering flowers..._ Hardly the job she pictured him having.

At the least, it was something to look into. But for tonight, she had embarrassed herself enough. _Another day_ , she told herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke and Naruto rolled up on a club and parked discretely in a shadow a building was casting as the bright moonlight shone proudly from the other side. Sasuke's dark gray Subaru was practically invisible in the shadow once he turned the headlights off.

"Where are we?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke lifted a single finger off of the steering wheel and pointed at a club that a couple buildings away.

"The Red Moon?" he said, stating the clubs name, "I mean, it's an alright club I guess, doesn't strike me as _your_ type of club, but drinks are drinks and hoes are hoes, right?"

"We aren't here to have fun you idiot," Sasuke said sharply, "this could be our key to unraveling the Akatsuki."

Naruto raised a brow, looking confused. Sasuke scowled at his not-so-witty partner.

"The Akatsuki _owns_ this club, Naruto,"

The Akatsuki was a criminal gang that the ANBU had been investigating after catching one of its members on an enormous drug charge during a typical traffic stop. They remained off the ANBU's radar until this point in time when they finally caught one of the gang members; the amount of drugs they found in the vehicle was enough to get the ANBU's attention, leading them to believe there was a lot more behind the man they caught, possibly the source of Konoha's underground drug trade. The culprit wouldn't squeal, so the only thing the ANBU had to go on was the obvious gang tattoos. Which thus far, proved to be more than enough information that overachiever Sasuke Uchiha needed.

A light went off in Naruto's head, "Oh!" he gasped, "how did you figure that out?"

"By doing my job," Sasuke stated sarcastically.

"So, what are we going to do?" Naruto asked. "Are we just going to run up in there and hold them all at gun point?" Immediately after asking, Naruto pulled a handgun out of his waistband, then another one out of the glove compartment.

"No, moron," Sasuke snapped and shoved the gun back into the glove compartment, "how did you ever get this job, any way?"

Naruto shrugged, "Just got lucky I guess." Truth be told, Naruto wasn't stupid. He just wasn't very intelligent in the heat of the moment. But his actions oddly proved effective; _most_ of the time.

"No, Naruto, we can't just run in there and start firing. Aside from lack of evidence, we don't know how many of them might be in there and armed," Sasuked explained, "and plus, it's a public club. There are innocent people in there. We have to do this carefully, and it may take a while."

"So... what are we going to do?" Naruto asked again.

" _You're_ going to go in there," said Sasuke, "undercover. You're going to bug the place, so we can listen to them. We don't have enough evidence to tap their phones yet, so this will have to do for now."

"Me? Why me? You're coming with me, right?"

"I can't,"

"Why not?! You're going to send me on a suicide mission, _alone_?"

"Once you're inside, you'll understand why I can't."

Naruto frowned. Sasuke groaned and slapped his palm against his face, frustrated. "Only because I know you won't stop asking why, my brother is part of the gang," he said, "he'll obviously recognize me and the whole operation would get thrown away."

 _Itachi_. Naruto had met him a couple of times after the long haired Uchiha had been arrested on a few petty charges; nothing serious. It wasn't until now that Naruto discovered he was associated with the gang.

"...How...what..." he stopped himself before he said more. Sasuke's family was a topic Naruto knew better than to prod at. The conversation usually ended badly for Naruto; violently. However Sasuke found out was his own business, but he clearly planned on doing the right thing about it. Naruto looked back at the club with wide eyes, contemplating for a moment before he grinned and said, "So... when do we start?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Downstairs in the basement of the flower shop, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were sitting on the cement floor in a circle accumulating a large pile of freshly trimmed marijuana in the center. They were beginning the harvest, and with only the three of them, they were looking at a few weeks worth of work. It was already so late, but Temari insisted that they cut down and trim up at least ten plants.

"Believe it or not, we've cut the amount of time it would've taken Temari and I to do all this work in half by having you here," said Kankuro. He finished snipping the larger leaves off of a large branch, then handed it off to Gaara to snip off the tinier leaves.

Gaara groaned; it had been four hours and they were only on the third plant. They knocked the first one out in no time, but it didn't take long for it to become yet another tedious, time consuming task and they slowed down. Tonight was going to be an all-nighter. On top of that thought, Gaara's was already feeling pain in his back from slouching over.

"It's a lot of work, but it will pay off," said Temari "just keep thinking about all of the things that you'll be able to get."

Already being so spoiled his whole life, Gaara couldn't think of anything in particular that he even wanted.

"When we're finished with this, I'll take you with me to sell it off to the Akatsuki," said Kankuro.

"This looks like a lot of shit," Gaara commented, "do they buy all of it?"

"They give us half of the cash up front, then the other half when they get rid of it."

"Seems risky..."

"There's nothing but risk in this game little brother,"

"I see," said Gaara, "but what if they _don't_ pay us?"

"Our family has been working with them since before we were even thought of," Temari chimed in, "I don't think we'd have to worry about that, but it's better than sitting on this product and getting caught with it ourselves."

Gaara nodded and tossed the finished piece of work into the pile with the rest. Stiff, he took a moment to stretch his limbs; he swore that he heard every bone in his body crack. He looked around at the rest of the work that hadn't been touched yet and sighed; three plants down, only several more weeks worth to go.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

~Three weeks later~

Naruto rang Sakura's doorbell, and for once waited patiently for her to answer the door. She came quickly, dressed in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a large white t-shirt.

"Get dressed, fix your hair, let's go!" piped the energetic blonde.

Sakura reached up and ruffled her messy pink hair, "Huh? Go where?"

"We're going out," he said.

"Out...where?" she observed Naruto's outfit; he was wearing a black suit with a red tie, reeking of some sort of expensive cologne. Clearly, he had plans that she wasn't aware of yet.

"To the Red Moon,"

"What?" she looked slightly offended, "a _club_ , Naruto? That's hardly a place I should be going in my condition... Did you already forget?"

"Not at all," he said, referring to her pregnancy.

Sakura scowled and moved out of the way so Naruto could come inside. "Why don't you ask Hinata," she suggested, "you know... your _girlfriend_ , if she wants to go with you? I'm not going to be very good company..."

"Well, you're my girlfriend too!" he said, and then quickly corrected himself as soon as he saw her contorted expression, "I mean like, my girl... friend. Girl and friend... with a space between girl and friend... a friend who is a girl... not like, girlfriend, all one word-"

"Stop Naruto," she chuckled, "I know."

"Heh, sorry. So, are we going? I think you deserve to get out of the house for a couple of hours and go somewhere besides work," he said, "I'm sure they serve food there, too, and non-alcoholic drinks. I won't even have a drink if that'll make you feel better. I'll buy anything you want!"

He wasn't necessarily lying, he really did feel like she needed to get out. He couldn't tell her why he was going there; the case against the Akatsuki was still very fresh, so leaking any information what so ever could compromise the operation. Going alone would draw too much attention. Hinata knew a club wasn't her boyfriend's scene in the first place, but he couldn't take her because she'd ask too many questions about why, and then just try to change his mind and insist they go somewhere more _romantic_. Jealousy also played a slight role in his choice as well, as Naruto was a little possessive of his girlfriend and didn't want to have to pick a fight with a random stranger who may hit on her and distract him from setting up the bugs.

Sakura hummed, considering taking him up on his offer. He shot her a pair of large, pitiful blue eyes and she couldn't help but give in. "Alright," she sighed, "I'll go get ready..."

Naruto sat down at the kitchen table while she went to change into something more club-appropriate. After about ten minutes she returned, her hair neatly parted and brushed with a red headband on top, wearing a thigh length blo"od red qipao. It was tight around her belly, exposing the baby bump that was beginning to protrude ever so slightly. A stranger wouldn't look twice, but Naruto could tell immediately.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, following his eyes down to her belly.

"Oh, nothing!" he stated quickly, afraid she may get offended and assume he was calling her fat if he made any comment about her belly. "You look great, Sakura! Now let's go!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bustling club was alive and and frisky with the energy and perversion of alcohol, sex and drugs. The dance floor was littered with confetti and broken glow sticks, leaking the illuminated liquid to be spread by the colorful crowd of energetic club goers. The bass from the loud electronic music was vibrating the entire building, possibly all the way down the block. Within the crowd, surrounded by the massive amount of sweaty people and neon lights were Sakura and Naruto, trying to push past everyone and find an open area. There must've been some sort of event that Naruto hadn't planned for going on, but this could oddly work in his favor; there were so many people here, he could just blend right in. The chances of getting discovered were slim, now. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitched in disgust as a large busty woman twirled across her vision, carelessly spilling her drink all over the place and eventually all over Sakura's arm.

"Watch it, _bitch!_ " Sakura tweaked, raising a clenched fist at the drunken broad. She turned to Naruto, "I don't know if this was a good idea, Naruto. I'm not really feeling it."

"We won't be long, Sakura!" Naruto shouted over the music. He grabbed her hand and lead her through the sea of people. When they were nearing the end of the dance floor, she pulled back and stopped him. Something wasn't right. Upon seeing the large quantity of people that were _outside_ , let alone inside, Naruto would have turned right around and left. But he didn't. Why a club? Why a busy club? With a pregnant girl, who can't even have the type of fun that clubs are meant for? Not morally, at least.

"There's something you're not telling me," she said. Naruto looked over his shoulder at her. She glared at him suspiciously, and then she suddenly realized, "you didn't want to take me out. You're _working_ right now, aren't you!?"

Naruto quickly covered her mouth before she could say more and dragged her away from the crowd. She grabbed onto his hand and bit him. "Ow!"

"I knew it! Asshole, why didn't you just tell me!?"

"I'm sorry!" he tried to whisper, hoarsely by her ear so nobody else could hear what he was about to say, "but you know how this works. You know I can't discuss an open case, Sakura."

Sakura crossed her arms and gave her friend a bemused scowl. She wasn't happy that he lead her to believe he just wanted to get her out of the house, but after being with Sasuke, who shared the same job as Naruto, she knew better than to even ask why they were here. He was working, and needed her to help him look less suspicious; just another couple going out to a club for a night. Sakura gave him a nod and smiled. But then, something- some _one_ , caught her eye, right over Naruto's shoulder only a few feet away.

Gaara was here. He hadn't seen her as far as she knew; he was walking with two other guys towards a door that read "Employees Only" which probably led into a more secluded part of the club. Unbeknownst to Sakura, Gaara and Kankuro had arrived to take care of business with the Akatsuki. Seeing her eyes get wide suddenly, Naruto tried not to make it obvious that he was looking over his shoulder. Upon spotting the other man, he shared the same expression as her. He immediately recognized Sasuke's brother, Itachi Uchiha, and then turned back to Sakura who was trying to use him as a shield so Gaara wouldn't see her.

"What are you doing?" he asked

"That's _him!_ "

"Huh?"

"The redhead!"

Naruto did a double take and spotted Gaara this time, who was carrying a very large bag on his back. He watched as Gaara and his brother followed Itachi into the back room, closing the door behind them.

"...Who?" Naruto asked, still unaware of who exactly Gaara was to her.

"That- that guy!" she said, "you know... that guy that I don't know!"

It took Naruto a moment before he realized that was the man that Sakura had a 'one night stand' with. _Ooh_ , he thought, and then another thought quickly rushed to his mind as he began to put the pieces together. Itachi was part of the gang he was currently working at taking down. The man Sakura had just pointed out was now connected to her through a mutual unborn child. That same man was carrying a large backpack- which may or may not have contained an illegal substance, and heading into a private area of the club. Regardless of what was in the bag, this man was communicating with a known gang member; and Naruto doubted they were just old friends. There was something going on. His mouth hung open.

"What?" Sakura recognized the look on his face; he knew something that she didn't.

"Nothing," he lied, "you should go talk to him!"

"Well- he just went back there," she pointed at the door, "and besides, this isn't the sort of place I want to tell him..."

"How are you going to tell him if you don't even know where he lives?"

"I think he works at that foreign flower shop," she explained, "when you and Hinata had those flowers delivered for me, he was the one who came to my house. I haven't gone yet... but I plan to."

 _What the hell is going on? Is the flower shop a front, too?_ Naruto silently wondered, his cop-brain racing a million miles a second, trying to put everything together. He was worried for his friend, but didn't want to spill any information in case he was thinking too far ahead. Not yet, not until he was certain. This was a tender issue.

"You should go tomorrow, and I'll come with you if that will make you feel better," he said, trying to sound more like a caring friend rather than a cop who wanted to dig up more dirt. Sakura smiled and nodded, then grabbed Naruto's hand as he carefully proceeded to circle the club, placing all of the bugs discretely in hidden places. Now aware that Naruto was there on business, Sakura relaxed and helped him blend in, dancing with him all around the club. She didn't think it would be a good time at first, but even though she was ignorant to exactly what her friend was doing, she was glad she came out of the house tonight.

* * *

 **A/N** : Just to clarify, the 'ANBU agents' in my story are similar to DEA agents, who specialize in high level drug trafficking and gang activity. I wanted to call them 'ANBU' to help preserve more of a Naruto theme, considering this is an AU. Next chapter, Gaara and Sakura will have more of a formal meeting, now that most of the small details are out of the way ;) Until next time~

Edit 6/11/15 - Special thanks to my reviewer tanuki for informing me that every letter in ANBU is capitalized, I was not aware!


	5. The Unforeseen Consequence

**The Unforeseen Consequence**

Today was the day.

With every step, she felt her heart racing faster and faster as she neared the flower shop. She was going to tell him today. She was going to walk right in there, and... well... she wasn't quite sure what she was going to do after she walked in... but, she was going to tell him.

It took all of her will power to get herself down here, and now here she was. Standing outside of the shop staring through the glass door, she was now fighting the urge to turn right around and run back home.

 _Don't even think about it_... she told herself, and then pushed the door open. A bell tied to the door jingled, alerting the employee behind the desk. Kankuro sat in the chair, tilting back against the wall with his feet crossed upon the desk with his nose deep in a book. He almost didn't notice her until she was partway to the desk.

"Oh," he shut the book and set it on his lap, "hello... can I help you?"

"Um... hi," she said, followed by a nervous laugh. She swallowed and then choked on her next word; she hadn't anticipated how nerve-wracking this was actually going to make her feel.

Kankuro tilted his head slightly, waiting for something to follow her greeting. Sakura didn't realize she was just standing there, staring at him. "Is there something I can help you with...?" he asked her.

Then, she recognized him. This was the man that was with her mysterious stranger the other night. Sakura, being the volatile person that she was, immediately let the surprise show in her face and she choked on the next words that were about to come out of her mouth. Instead, nothing but a few strange sounds passed her lips.

Kankuro raised a brow. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Y-yes?" she said, but it came out more like a question.

"...Are you here to... buy some flowers?"

"Uh, no..."

"Well, I can't help you if you don't speak up..."

"I'm uh, looking for somebody..."

"I'm afraid you came to the wrong place, lady..." he said, naturally feeling suspicious of her. He removed his feet from the desk and placed them on the floor, sitting up straight. "This ain't the lost and found."

"No- I know. The other day, a man- I think he works here. He delivered flowers to my house," she finally managed, trying her best not to stumble over her words, "he had an unruly head of red hair, and... and a tattoo on his forehead."

Kankuro's expression seemed to perk up with curiosity. "Gaara?" he answered without hesitation. He scoffed and gave her a slightly intimidating smile, "what could you possibly want to see him for?"

"Well, that's... personal," said Sakura, "something I'd rather only speak to him about."

"Personal? Was there something wrong with the flowers he delivered?"

Just then, the bells tied to the door rang again; Temari stepped in carrying some sort of brown package. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing the pink haired girl looking back at her from over her shoulder. Kankuro deliberately cleared his throat to gain her attention again.

"Uhh, no! Nothing was wrong with the flowers, they were beautiful!"

"Well, then what could possibly be so personal?" he pressed, "our bother has only been here a short time, he doesn't even know anybody in Konoha yet."

Now feeling even more intimidated by Temari's presence, Sakura felt the nerves coke rushing back.

"I'm- I'm sorry," she apologized, "I shouldn't have come by here. I'm so sorry, I'm just going to go..."

And with that, she quickly spun around and made her way out the door. Temari watched her like a hawk as she quickly made her way down the street.

"Who was that?" she asked.

Kankuro shrugged, "I dunno," he said, "but she was looking for Gaara."

Temari hummed and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Due to the fact that the Sabaku family was running a very illegal business in such a sketchy city, it was only normal for them to feel on edge if any strange face came to their door asking question. And at the moment, the two siblings were pondering every possible reason this girl may have stopped by, none of which were making her seem any less shady.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaara stepped down the spiral staircase and into the center of what was the living room of his new loft apartment. The realtor approached him and stood by his side.

"What do you think?" he asked him.

Gaara took one more brief look around from where he was standing. It was an enormous wide, open area- a little too much for only one person, but having large, open areas to himself confirmed a required level of solitude that Gaara could appreciate. He didn't particularly like other people. Everything had been updated from the kitchen counters to the bathroom floors and it was fully furnished already, everything in the apartment ranging from a white to dark grey color scale, with the exception of solid black and white where it wasn't overbearing.

"...It'll do," mumbled the redhead. He spotted a lamp in the corner that didn't seem to fit and walked towards it, "take this with you on the way out and we have a deal." He grabbed the hideous lamp and handed it off to the realtor.

"Deal," said the man, trading him the keys to his new apartment for the lamp. He went to shake Gaara's hand but he received nothing but the still air in the room, as Gaara ignored his gesture. He meekly tried to play it off by throwing his hand back and scratching his new head. Then, muttered something about "enjoy" and "new home" before walking out and leaving him by himself.

Gaara didn't even notice that he had left. He stood in the large window that made up the entire 'wall' of his livingroom, peering down at the city of Konoha as if he were a king, and the buildings were his pawns. His new home was located in the tallest residential building in the city with a glorious overview of the entire city. He couldn't wait to see what the night view had to offer.

His siblings weren't kidding when they said that the work he was doing paid off. Now, the work seemed far less tedious and simple. It made him wonder why they weren't living in a place this nice, with all of the cash they were raking in every few months.

Regardless, Gaara was eager to find his own path in this game. For now, he would pick at his sibling's brains and consume all of the knowledge they had to offer. In time, he would create his own game. One day, his own black market empire.

His phone chimed several times in a row; Temari was mass texting him, knowing he had a habit of ignoring his phone. 'Come home asap,' she sent, about twelve times in a matter of thirty seconds. _Must be urgent..._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The shower knobs squeaked and could be heard through the whole apartment when Sakura turned the water off. She stepped out of the shower and onto the cushioned shag floor mat to dry her feet. Grabbing a fresh towel, she first dried her hair and then proceeded to dry her body, but stopped when she looked down and noticed her belly. Roughly two months later, she was beginning to show. For now her secret could still be hidden with help from loose clothing, but she wouldn't be able to hide it for much longer.

 _Gaara_ , she thought to herself, _so that's his name. And that guy called him their brother._ She shook her was another night she was going to force herself not to think about her growing belly, or the fact that she had practically walked right into a lion's den today when she had attempted to find Gaara on her own.

She looked at herself in the mirror and for a moment felt like somebody else was looking back. She barely even recognized herself any more.

"You can only ignore reality for so long," she quietly said aloud.

She wrapped the towel around her body and exited the bathroom, thoughts about her life aimlessly floating through her head. She walked towards the kitchen. It was so quiet in here lately. Normally, she'd play music, or sing, _something_. But, that was when Sasuke lived with her. When she was happy every single day. Now, she had to fight sadness from the moment she opened her eyes until she lay her head back down at night. On her day off, she would normally spend all day in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Any more, she embraced the silence, and it wasn't until now, this very moment, that silence was suddenly broken by an ear-piercing screech that she let out upon entering her kitchen.

For sitting in _her_ house, at _her_ kitchen table, was a certain redheaded man, staring back at her. His hand was in the bowl of fruit bowl on the table. Sakura, startled by this uninvited guest, stumbled back against the kitchen counter, heart racing with shock and breathing heavily.

Gaara said nothing as he pulled his hand back from the fruit bowl and casually popped a grape into his mouth. As the pinkette tried to steady her breathing, her hands blindly searched behind her back for anything they could find that felt sharp- eventually grabbing a knife off of the counter, she held it behind her. Gaara remained in the chair, looking as if he belonged here.

"You should lock your door," he finally said.

 _Is he some sort of mad man?_

Cautiously, Sakura approached the table.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

Gaara popped another grape into his mouth before replying with, "Put the knife down."

 _Fuck_. She revealed the kitchen blade and hesitated to set it on the table. After she did, Gaara stood up. She instinctively jumped back.

"So, _Sakura_ ," the way he said her name sent chills up her spine, "what is it you want from me?"

"I uhh...what?"

"You've been following me," he said, "the other night, you were at The Red Moon... today, you showed up at my family's shop..."

 _So, he saw me at the club that night..._

"Were the flowers a set up to get me to come to your door?" he asked.

"N-no! How was I supposed to know that you worked there?"

He narrowed his eyes and began taking steps towards her. With every step he took in her direction, she stepped back. "Are you obsessed with me or something?"

Truth be told, _Yes_ , but not because she was in love with him or anything. _It's complicated..._

"Why don't you just tell me what you want, and stop following me?" he suggested, "you're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble..." Sakura backed up until she was against the counter, Gaara quickly closed in on her and grabbed her chin, a perilous look shone in his eyes. "...You have no idea what my family- what _I_ , am capable of." He pressed her against the counter and pressed his mouth against hers. A primal fear shot through the pinkette and she shuddered, feeling like cornered prey as something wild glinted in his eyes.

She gave into him and responded; his lips were so soft and sweet, reminding her of why she perused him previously. He made her forget. And she forgot, but only so briefly before realizing that now was her chance. She needed to say something to him. For her sanity's sake, she needed to. The kiss was becoming more heated. He grabbed her thighs and forced her up on the counter top, where she could feel him graciously rub against her exposed womanhood.

"Is this what you wanted, Sakura?" he cooed, "is this why you've been following me?"

Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed with pleasure. But- _No!_ Her eyes snapped back open.

"I need to tell you something," she breathed, feeling his soft lips at her neck, "that's why I've been looking for you..."

"Hmm?" he hummed in question, gently and delightfully vibrating her skin.

And then, blatantly, without thinking, she said it. "I'm pregnant."

Gaara froze. He pulled away and gave her a puzzled look as if to ask, ' _Why are you telling me this bullshit?_ '

"...And, it's yours..."

Gaara's lips parted as if he wanted to speak, but couldn't find words. Gradually, his eyes became wide until they couldn't open any farther. He was waiting for her to laugh it off like it was a joke, but her expression remained pretty sincere, and she nodded.

"That's why I wanted to find you... but that night at the club, that was just a coincidence."

Gaara stumbled back until he bumped into the table and frantically looked around. Was this a prank? What was going on? What the hell? His stomach heaved suddenly and he spun around, vomiting in the fruit bowl on the table. He wiped his mouth and panted heavily, shocked and confused. If this was a joke, it was too sick even for his taste. But at the same time- he knew where babies came from, so he was aware this outcome wasn't unlikely. Alas, he couldn't help but be surprised.

"Are you...are you alright?"

Gaara gave her no reply. Instead, he left. Out the kitchen window.

Sakura frowned and hung her head; she thought if she told him, it would lift the weight off of her shoulders, but here she was, not only feeling just as shitty as she was before, but extremely confused by the events that just took place.

"Maybe he needs some time..." she muttered to herself. She wasn't exactly stable in the first few minutes after she found out, either.

Today was the day, after all.


End file.
